Free Spook's Gold by Andrew Wood Page B

call him and verify, and then stop wasting my time!”
    Marner continued to hold the receiver in mid-air, banking on the fact that no one several ranks below the station chief would want to be brought to his attention, especially as the object of a disgruntled SS officer.  Graf held Marner’s gaze for a few moments, not intimidated by this ploy, seeming to prefer to determine if Marner were bluffing or not, like two players in a show down over a hand of poker. 
    Finally Graf sighed, took the receiver and gently replaced it on its cradle.  He settled back in his chair, shuffled a few papers to ensure that they were perfectly and symmetrically aligned and then asked, “May I first enquire if you have any ideas who killed Schull, and why?  Was it linked to his activities here in Paris?”
    “There are some theories, and there are some irregularities,” responded Marner cryptically, “So at this moment I have to consider that his death may be linked to his mission.  Therefore, I need further details on his investigation.”
    “Such as?”
    “He was investigating whether the theft of the gold happened whilst it was being transported by Kriegsmarine.  I will need a list of each of the shipments, with details of the vessel, routes, dates etcetera, from the point that it was handed over to Kriegsmarine by the Japanese, up until the point that it was delivered into the vaults at the Chancellery or Japanese embassy in Berlin.”
    Graf blew out his lips.  “That is a lot of details.  You are aware that the gold was handed over to Gestapo at point of docking by u-boat?” Marner nodded and confirmed that Hoffman had apprised him of this point.  Graf continued, “Yes, all overland shipping from the port to the final destination was organised by Gestapo each time.  So I can only give you the information up until the port of offloading.  For the rest, it is your own colleagues that you need to ask and, if I may add, should be investigating,” finished Graf with a smirk. 
    Marner was unsurprised that both Hoffman and now Graf had mentioned it since they would be keen to deflect suspicion from their own organisation.  The involvement of the Gestapo was a fact that he could not ignore, added to which he had the involvement of the Carlingue and the extremely close ties between the two.  He nodded his head.  “Of course, I am looking into that too.  You met with Schull. What lines of investigation was he following?”
    “I really don’t know.  I gave him access to the records of the transports, exactly the same as you have just asked for.  If he had any other information, if he had any ideas or leads, he did not share them with me.  Very tight-lipped was our Captain Schull.”
    “Did he show you any documents that he brought with him?”
    “None.  I only met Schull briefly and provided him with the relevant files.  That was the limit of my dealings with him.”
    “Okay. In that case I’ll have to start where he did, with the transport records.”
    Graf sat for a moment frowning, which Marner interpreted to be his displeasure at having to go through all of this yet again.  Wearily Graf rose and led him to an office nearby, a tiny closet with just a bare desk and single wooden chair, no window.  Graf indicated that Marner should sit and wait and then departed without a further word.  Finally, after fifteen minutes of waiting, Graf returned with a pile of documents in numerous individual folders.  “These are the voyage reports for each of the submarine transports.  They are transcripts of the commander’s log book, so they contain the details for the entire voyage and certainly within them you’ll find the details of loading and off-loading of the special shipments.”
    Regarding the thick stack of folders with dismay, Marner was on the point of asking for a simple synopsis of the necessary points, but then reconsidered.  He was not really sure what he was looking for.  It might take him time to work